Stars in Shroud

Rating:
Summary: Benford's aliens fill humanity with despair (readers, too)
Review: This deep, depressing novel follows Captain Ling Sanjen through the mutiny that dishonors him, the illness that nearly destroys him, and the war that redeems him. A descendent of Caucasians in a post-apocalyptic world where Orientals rule, Sanjen is a social misfit. His career as a captain in the Fleet ends dramatically when he makes the mistake of being right while everyone else is wrong, and gets court-martialed on the word of his trusted second-in-command, the ambitious and unscrupulous Tonji. Ignoring Sanjen's advice, the Empire gets embroiled in a one-sided war with the mysterious beings known as the Quarn, with catastrophic results. Only after surviving a long bout with despair is Sanjen able to function again, and it is at this point that Tonji (now his superior) sends him to supervise the defense of a remote planet called Veden, where the real story begins. Without giving away too much of the plot (and believe it or not, this reviewer hasn't), Sanjen must survive assassination attempts, civil unrest, religious fanatics, mind control, and seemingly endless treachery. Benford is skilled at creating moods that reflect the tenor of his characters' thoughts, and he uses this to great effect in this novel, where the reader actually feels the horror, the disgust, the depression, the indignation, the manic excitement, etc. that his protagonist feels. Unfortunately, this strength may also be the book's greatest weakness, because so much of the story has a pall of doom cast over it that the reader may simply stop caring, just as the characters are tempted to do. Benford's science is exemplary, and his speculations about alien/futuristic social forms are interesting (if not necessarily entertaining), but overall this book is too much of a "downer" to get a good recommendation. Students of science fiction writing may take interest in the subtle way Benford uses point of view in this novel, but readers who think that science fiction ought to be fun can feel free to give it a miss.

Rating:
Summary: Benford's aliens fill humanity with despair (readers, too)
Review: This deep, depressing novel follows Captain Ling Sanjen through the mutiny that dishonors him, the illness that nearly destroys him, and the war that redeems him. A descendent of Caucasians in a post-apocalyptic world where Orientals rule, Sanjen is a social misfit. His career as a captain in the Fleet ends dramatically when he makes the mistake of being right while everyone else is wrong, and gets court-martialed on the word of his trusted second-in-command, the ambitious and unscrupulous Tonji. Ignoring Sanjen's advice, the Empire gets embroiled in a one-sided war with the mysterious beings known as the Quarn, with catastrophic results. Only after surviving a long bout with despair is Sanjen able to function again, and it is at this point that Tonji (now his superior) sends him to supervise the defense of a remote planet called Veden, where the real story begins. Without giving away too much of the plot (and believe it or not, this reviewer hasn't), Sanjen must survive assassination attempts, civil unrest, religious fanatics, mind control, and seemingly endless treachery. Benford is skilled at creating moods that reflect the tenor of his characters' thoughts, and he uses this to great effect in this novel, where the reader actually feels the horror, the disgust, the depression, the indignation, the manic excitement, etc. that his protagonist feels. Unfortunately, this strength may also be the book's greatest weakness, because so much of the story has a pall of doom cast over it that the reader may simply stop caring, just as the characters are tempted to do. Benford's science is exemplary, and his speculations about alien/futuristic social forms are interesting (if not necessarily entertaining), but overall this book is too much of a "downer" to get a good recommendation. Students of science fiction writing may take interest in the subtle way Benford uses point of view in this novel, but readers who think that science fiction ought to be fun can feel free to give it a miss.